Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an air conditioning system for driver's seat and a control method thereof. More particularly, it relates to an air conditioning system for driver's seat, which improves fuel efficiency by using a thermoelement cooperatively controlled with heat, air ventilation, and cooling (HVAC) of a vehicle for a driver of a truck, and a control method thereof.
Background Art
In general, a driver stands by for a long time in a state where an engine of a truck is stopped for loading and uploading, and it is necessary to operate an air conditioning system to reduce driver's fatigue due to the heat even during the stand-by time.
A truck travels a long distance while loading a lot of cargo, so that fuel cost consumed is high, and a decrease of the fuel cost is directly connected to profit of a driver, so that the driver is particularly sensitive to fuel efficiency, and the driver hesitates to operate the air conditioning system only for himself/herself to decrease fuel cost.
Accordingly, a technology of auxiliarily applying a thermoelement using a Peltier effect to a driver's seat in the HVAC of a vehicle is suggested.
As an example of the related art, Korean Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-2006-0106507 (published on Oct. 12, 2006) discloses an air conditioning system for a seat of a vehicle, including, as schematically illustrated in FIG. 1, a seat duct 120 communicating an air blower 110 of an air conditioning system of a front seat and a vehicle seat 100, a door 116 independently controlling an opening degree of the seat duct 120, and at least one thermoelectric element modules 130 installed in the seat duct 120 to heat exchange flowing air, in which the air blower 110 is provided with a bypass passage 114 branched from an outlet 112 discharging air to an air conditioning case, an inlet of the seat duct 120 is connected to the bypass passage 114, the door 116 adjusting an opening degree of the seat duct 120 is installed in the bypass passage 114, so that air may be selectively blown from the air blower 110 to the vehicle seat 100, a ventilation path 106 for blowing air, which is blown through the air blower 110 and the seat duct 120, to a back and a hip of a passenger is installed in a seat cushion 104 and a back part of a chair 102 of the seat 100 of the vehicle, and an outlet of the seat duct 120 is connected to the ventilation path 106.
As another example, Korean Patent No. 10-1241160 (granted on Mar. 4, 2013) filed by the applicant of the present invention discloses an air cooling, heating, and ventilating seat module of a vehicle, including: a blower unit including a housing; a thermoelectric module including a case installed inside the housing, and a thermoelectric semiconductor device embedded in the case so that an internal space of the case may be divided into a cool air flow path and a warm air flow path; and a separator connected to a side of the thermoelectric module to maximize the amount of absorption of condensate water generated by a temperature difference between the cool air flow path and the warm air flow path during execution of a cooling mode of the air cooling, heating, and ventilating seat of the vehicle, and having a bent portion.
However, the patent technologies in the related art have structural difficulty in that since the thermoelectric element is installed at the seat ducts, a condensate water removing structure for preventing a duct from being damaged due to condensate water generated due to condensation of water in the thermoelectric element needs to be provided at the duct, and since the thermoelectric element heats or cools air blown by the blower of the HVAC to be used only when an air conditioning system is operated, there are problems in that it is impossible to cool a driver's seat by solely using only the thermoelectric element in a state where an engine of a truck is turned off.
It is impossible to use a cooling function using the HVAC of the main air conditioning when the engine is turned off, and it is necessary to separately mount an anti-start air conditioner at a position of a sun roof of a truck cabin, so that it is impossible to mount the sun roof, and particularly, the anti-start air conditioner is far from a driver's seat in a large truck, so that energy loss is considerable. For example, when an outdoor temperature is 35° C., discharged air needs to be 19° C. to cool an entire cab by the anti-start air conditioner, but a temperature at a position of a driver is about 25° C., so that energy used is considerably wasted.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.